Six years without a Serie A title is too long for a club of AC Milan’s stature. For the last five, the Scudetto has been the exclusive domain of city rivals Inter, with Calciopoli handing them their first and decimating their rivals for the second.
Like Barcelona, Inter are now a true superpower of European football. Their treble win in 2009/10 was emphatic in places, genius in others. They’ve kept their remarkable squad together with the exception of Mario Balotelli, who found his playing time with the Nerazzurri more limited than he would have hoped. Inter should be a dominant power for years to come unless some drastic change takes place. Something, for example, like losing a brilliant manager and replacing him with Rafael Benitez.
Inter are still Scudetto favourites and with Jose Mourinho in place would have been difficult to bet against for a sixth straight win. But Benitez might just be the chink in the armour Inter’s challengers are looking for. He may be a very good manager, but he’s not in Mourinho’s class when it comes to the trials and tribulations of a full league season.
He may prove me wrong, but if he doesn’t then Inter will find themselves at the mercy of a clutch of teams that have been tooling up for a title assault.
Last season’s runners-up, Roma, have kept their key players and added significant talent up front, bringing Adriano back from Brazil to join Milan loanee Marco Borriello and winger Fabio Simplicio in Claudio Ranieri’s arsenal. Gigi Del Neri and Juventus have added players all over the pitch, with Leonardo Bonucci, Simone Pepe and Fabio Quagliarella headlining a busy mercato for the Old Lady. It’s possible that the likes of Fiorentina, Genoa and Napoli might make things difficult for the big boys too.
But across the corridors of San Siro, Massimiliano Allegri is plotting Inter’s greatest challenge. A low-key transfer window left Milan picked out by most long-lead season previews as a side without that certain something, without the stars of yesteryear and, crucially, without much hope of winning the title. It’s amazing what a couple of late signings will do for a club.
After an opening day 4-0 win over Lecce, Silvio Berlusconi handed Allegri a potent but baffling attacking headache. Out goes Borriello on loan, to be replaced (and then some) by former Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In, too, is the gifted but difficult Brazilian Robinho. And there’s Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato. And Pippo Inzaghi.
When asked where Allegri’s forward quintet would fit, Ibrahimovic boldly told journalists that all five could play up front. If we’re all up there scoring goals, posited the Swede, there’s no need to track back. Clearly that won’t be Allegri’s approach but if Ibra’s swashbuckling attitude extends to the dugout then we could be in for a treat this season.
Of course, the selection dilemma isn’t the only problem facing Allegri. To a man, the four possible first choice players up front have reputations for being tricky characters. In Allegri, Berlusconi has a coach capable of doing well at Milan. But has he got too much to deal with after a late-window flurry of activity?
The bottom line is that Allegri has wonderful talent at his disposal and if he can get his side working well together and his stars playing near the best of their ability the Rossoneri simply cannot be ruled out. They have enough quality around the team to provide a solid if elderly backbone for the showy forward line. But if it goes wrong, the fallout will be extremely messy.